


Witching

by RekaStormborn



Series: The Ties That Bind [2]
Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: F/M, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-02-10 13:32:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RekaStormborn/pseuds/RekaStormborn
Summary: Taibhsear and the Wicked Truth shared one moment on a lonely night when they were sent to end her life.  Now she remembers them fondly and waits in the hope that she will be able to see them again one night.  (Sequel toNaming.)





	1. Visions and Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> Story Note: I owe a huge thanks to vixenonthemoor, who helped inspire the original story _Naming_ and who has been my tireless beta for this and other pieces since then. She does a great job of keeping me honest and making sure I remember to explain the important stuff. So this one is dedicated to her, for all her work to help me with various pieces over the years. Originally posted on another site in 2011.  
> Chapter 1 Note: How to pronounce Taibhsear. The “t” is soft, as in “ta” or “Tom.” The “ai” is pronounced like the “a” in “far.” The “bh” is pronounced like a “v.” The “s” is pronounced as it is in English. The “ea” is pronounced like the “e” in “whet” or “survey.” The “r” is pronounced fairly similar to that in English. So the name would be pronounced something along the lines of “Tav-sayer” with the second half being a single syllable.

**Chapter One: Visions and Revelations**

Taibhsear finished her chores around the house and went to her pallet to lie down for the afternoon.  Lately she always felt tired and ill by afternoon.  Grandmother gave her a draught every night made from sweet smelling herbs and it helped her sleep but still the next day she would be tired again.  Knowing that Grandmother would not return until nightfall, Taibhsear slipped a hand inside her pillow and retrieved the strip of blood stained cloth she hid there.  Grandmother would be angry if she knew about the little memento and what Taibhsear used it for.

Spreading the strip of cloth flat across her palm, Taibhsear traced the symbol for dreams over the blood before closing her fingers around it, tucking her hand under the pillow just in case, and closing her eyes.  No matter how tired she was, calling the visions like this always energized her.

~~

_Wicked paced the room, furious at the command their Master had sent.  He was not to come under the eye of any Council Member save their own sourdre de sang.  Truth on the other hand, had been ordered to the meeting this afternoon with express instructions not to refuse any requests from those present.  The brothers knew who the request would be coming from.  Wicked would have gladly gone to_ her _but Truth would despise himself for it._

_Wicked ground his teeth together, frustrated as he felt the fear coursing through his brother and the unnatural lust riding close behind it.  Truth had been loyal to the one woman the two of them truly loved since the last night they saw her and Wicked shared his brother’s revulsion at how that faithfulness was ending.  Both brothers cried out as_ she _fed on Truth, unknowingly drawing on his brother as well.  Even their Master had yet to discover the true seat of their strength._

_Wicked returned to his senses in a heap on the floor crying the tears his brother could not shed for the woman they would never see again._

~~

_Near the little Scottish village there was a small clearing where the moonlight played on soft grass.  Wicked landed for a moment to leave the basket for her.  She would find it when she came to meet them the following night.  He hoped she would accept their gift and their apology.  Truth joined him a moment later._

_“We go south, to Rome,” he said aloud the order they’d recently received from their master._

_Wicked met his gaze, wondering why he would bother speaking it aloud._

_“She said once, she could hear us whispering on the wind if we wanted her to,” Truth answered, the depth of his sadness only visible to his brother._

_“She will understand, brother,” Wicked assured him.  “She also said that we would always be behind her eyes if not before them.”_

_Truth nodded before they both took to the air again._

~~

Taibhsear woke enough to see the room before her, each item in its place just as Grandmother liked it.  She wondered how many years in the future her visions were.  It was hard to tell with the brothers because they always looked exactly the same.  Her eyes fell on the box on the mantle where Grandmother kept her magical dagger.  The knife she cut the younger brother with.  Taibhsear saw it in a vision the year after the brothers came and always wondered why none of the three of them ever mentioned the bargain Grandmother made with the brothers to guarantee Taibhsear’s safety that night.

Taibhsear tried to keep her eyes open as Grandmother slipped into their small dwelling but the vision was already sucking her down and away.

~~

_Grandmother sat with the High Priest and High Priestess in his dwelling.  They all looked so very serious._

_“You said she would be with child when they left, that you had done as much as you could to ensure it,” the High Priest said to Grandmother.  The set of his shoulders showed his displeasure with it not happening._

_“None of the others have ever resisted the potion or the spell,” Grandmother replied stiffly.  “You know as well as I that it should have been so.  We know it was the auspicious moment and that they would still be young enough.”_

_“You underestimated her,” the High Priestess said, a smug smile on her lips.  “The potion is meant to be an aid to conception not a means of coercion.”_

_“You were quite pleased with our plan at the time,” Grandmother snapped back._

_“To encourage conception, of course,” the High Priestess answered calmly.  “We already knew that there would be a child.  There still will be.  The Goddess wills when, not her servants.”_

_“So you claim,” Grandmother replied disdainfully._

_“You expected one outcome and found another.  That shows that you are not the one controlling things.  You never were,” the High Priestess said, rising and stalking out.  She was tired of the machinations of the Keeper and the Priest._

_“You are taking the necessary steps?” the Priest inquired once he was alone with Grandmother._

_“Yes, it will only take a few months and neither of the little witches will ever be the wiser,” Grandmother answered._

_“Good.  You know what will happen if you fail.”_

_“You will go first, my friend,” Grandmother said with a laugh before leaving him alone again._

~~

_Taibhsear watched herself walk out of the hut she shared with Grandmother and into the light of the village square holding her stomach with both hands.  She didn’t see the blood seeping between her fingers until she hit her knees near the well.  Pain flared across her belly as she sank into the self in the vision._

_“Seer,” the High Priestess cried, hurrying to her side._

_“They are dead,” Taibhsear said her voice completely void of emotion.  They tried to kill her: first with poison so the village would never know; then, when that failed, with the knife that bled the younger brother.  She could feel the poison and magic in the wound._

_“You are hurt,” the High Priestess murmured, trying to move Taibhear’s hands away from the stab wound in her stomach._

_“There is a scrap of cloth stained with blood hidden in my pillow,” Taibhear answered.  “Bring it to me and I will heal what ails me.”  A vision of the two brothers healed her body of the poison and it could heal her of this, too._

_The High Priestess left her own attendants with an order to look after the Seer before hurrying to the hut.  She returned a moment later with the cloth, handing it to Taibhsear._

_When she took the cloth, Taibhsear’s blood soaked into the stain, wetting it again.  She drew the symbol for dreams on the cloth with a bloody finger and kissed it before laying down at the feet of the High Priestess.  She would protect Taibhsear until she woke once more._

~~

Taibhsear sat up with a gasp, clutching the cloth in her hand as her eyes examined the one room dwelling.  Grandmother was no where in sight so she quickly hid her treasured scrap of cloth before lying down again.  Was she the one they spoke of in the High Priest’s dwelling?  Was Grandmother trying to kill her?

Her hands pressed against her stomach where she could still feel the tremors of pain from being stabbed.  As the memory of the pain faded she realized that it was the first time since she confessed to having visions that Grandmother had not been there to ask about it moments later.

Rising to her feet, Taibhsear felt refreshed.  The weariness that had been heavy on her for the past moon had vanished.  Sighing in relief, she moved to the hearth, preparing the evening stew she would share with Grandmother.

“I thought you would be sleeping,” Grandmother said when she returned that night at dusk.

“I feel a bit better today,” Taibhsear answered, the conversation from her vision playing again in her mind.  How could Grandmother be trying to harm her?  Grandmother had raised her from the time she was weaned.

“I am glad the medicine is working,” Grandmother said, smoothing Taibhsear’s hair.  “A few more days of it and you should be yourself again.”

Taibhsear just nodded as she turned away to stir the stew.  Grandmother was lying.  Never before had it occurred to Taibhsear to even suspect that Grandmother would lie to her, so she had never paid strict attention to the feel of her words before.  Never had she doubted Grandmother, and now that doubt consumed her as they shared a quiet meal.

When Grandmother brought out the medicine, Taibhsear held the cup in her hands, breathing in the sweet smell of the herbs and letting her power move through the liquid as she brought the cup to her lips.  She drank slowly, detecting the faint bitter taste beneath all the sweetness.  It hurt when her magic soaked the poison away and Taibhsear felt sick again.

“Go back to bed, child,” Grandmother urged.  “You have done too much today, rest and let your body heal.”

Taibhsear nodded, obediently returning to her pallet and drawing the curtain.  Tears fell silently down her cheeks as she lay staring at the wall of her little alcove.  Grandmother was trying to kill her.  But why?  Why would the only mother Taibhsear had ever known try to kill her?

Taibhsear buried her face in her pillow, shaking silently as she cried herself to sleep.


	2. Poisons, Daggers, and Blood

**Chapter Two: Poisons, Daggers, and Blood**

For the next three days Taibhsear feigned a relapse of her illness.  She didn't want Grandmother to realize that the poison was no longer affecting her.  Her appetite was gone from nervousness rather than illness, but it helped her show Grandmother what she wanted to see.  Taibhsear saw the secret smiles Grandmother tried to hide at the sight of her twitching hands so she reasoned that it must be a sign of the poison working.  On the fourth day she remained in bed, letting her hands, arms, and legs twitch occasionally.

Grandmother soothed her with words but did not sit beside her and pet her hair as she had every other time Taibhsear had been sick.  It hurt to see Grandmother pulling away and distancing herself.  Late in the afternoon, Grandmother apologized for having to leave her but said she must speak with the village elders.

As soon as Grandmother was out of the hut and her footsteps faded to silence, Taibhsear hurried to the door, peeking out to see what Grandmother was really doing.  The entire village had gathered near the well and Grandmother spoke to them.

“The Seer has had a vision,” Grandmother explained.  “She has seen that a child will be born to the village in the coming seasons that will have her gifts since she will bear no child.”

The villagers murmured and gasped, their noise enough to cover Grandmother’s next words.

Taibhsear was shocked at the lie.  Grandmother was using a false vision to reassure the village when in truth she was killing the Seer and that was why there would be no child.  Except there would be.  Taibhsear knew in her heart that one day she would bear a daughter to carry on her gifts.

“What has she seen?” the High Priestess asked, her voice rising above the murmur of the villagers.  “How will we know the child?”

“A daughter born in winter with the mark upon her,” Grandmother answered, using a vision Taibhsear had seen to bring truth to her lies.  A child would be born in the middle of winter with the mark of the people upon her and that child would be of great help to Taibhsear.  Perhaps Grandmother thought to change the girl’s destiny by removing Taibhsear from it.

“Praise to the Goddess who will send another with the gift since the Seer will bear no child,” the High Priest said.

Taibhsear could listen to no more lies.  She crept back to her pallet and thought about her visions from four days ago.  When she fled the hut bleeding she told the High Priestess ‘they are dead.’  What could bring her situation to be so desperate that she must kill?  Surely she could expose Grandmother for what she was without having to resort to violence.  No matter how hard she tried to find a solution, everything came back to the fact that no one had seen her since she was a child and had her first vision.  Who would believe her?

Grandmother still had not returned when a fitful sleep took Taibhsear.  She tossed and turned, restless in her slumber and Grandmother smiled.  The poison was said to bring horrible nightmares and she imagined the Seer experiencing horrors as she twitched and whimpered on her pallet.

~~

Taibhsear still had no solution to her troubles the next morning when Grandmother told her that the High Priest would visit to see if he could discover what ailed her since the medicine was not helping her.  It was highly unusual for any man to be allowed within their small hut, let alone to see Taibhsear.  To make the lie even less believable, it was the priestesses, not the priests, who were known for their skill in healing.  Even Taibhsear, sequestered as she was, knew that.  She refused to give up her ruse and simply nodded weakly to Grandmother.

Taibhsear lay quietly when the High Priest arrived and she remained passive as he looked her over.  He seemed satisfied with his examination and rose to his feet.

“Let me brew something to make you feel better, child,” he said before disappearing from their hut.

“He will make the pain ease,” Grandmother said, smoothing Taibhsear’s hair away from her face.  It was almost the tender gesture it used to be.

The High Priest did not return until late afternoon and carried a cup with him.  Very carefully, Taibhsear allowed her magic to examine the cup as the High Priest knelt beside Grandmother.

Taibhsear let Grandmother sit her up, leaning into the older woman for support.  Her hand rested on her pillow and she could feel that the scrap of cloth was still safely hidden there for when she would need it.

“Drink, child,” Grandmother urged as the High Priest held the cup before her.

“I cannot,” Taibhsear answered, calculating her next move very carefully.  She had to move quickly once they discovered that she knew.

“Can you not swallow?” the High Priest asked, his voice full of concern and his eyes full of greed.

“I cannot drink what you have brewed for me,” Taibhsear replied, her eyes meeting those of the High Priest.  “I will not let you hide what you do.”

He looked suitably shocked but it was Grandmother who moved quickly at her words. Pushing Taibhsear roughly into the alcove, she went to the hearth for her knife.

The High Priest tried to pour the brew into Taibhsear’s mouth as she lay stunned on her pallet.  Before he could do more than dribble the liquid on her cheek Taibhsear struck his hand, sending the poison spraying across the room and over him and Grandmother.

“I said you would go first,” Grandmother hissed before slitting the High Priest’s throat, the blood spraying across her skirts.  “And you will go second,” she sneered at Taibhsear.

“No,” was the only answer Taibhsear had as she rushed the woman, fighting for the knife, and then screaming high and long when it plunged into her belly.

Grandmother looked triumphant, her grip on the knife loosening, so it was Taibhsear who pulled it out, turning her arms and plunging the knife into Grandmother’s heart.  The older woman fell to the floor as Taibhsear clutched her belly, unable to take her eyes from Grandmother as the life drained out of her pale eyes.

Before she could reflect on what she had done, Taibhsear stumbled from the hut, dropping to her knees by the well.  She didn’t hear the High Priestess’s words, but she answered them as she had in the vision and the High Priestess brought her the cloth, adding to the trail of bloody footprints coming from the only home Taibhsear had ever known.

Taibhsear took the cloth, drew the symbol, kissed it, and lay down at the High Priestess’s feet as the visions took her.

~~

_Wicked and Truth sat quietly among all the others.  It was a sad existence but they were alive and for once not alone.  It had been centuries since they were last among so many of their own kind.  They were both startled by the pull of the petite brunette who entered with several men in the middle of the services.  She called one of the young ones to her when Malcolm refused to aid her.  The brothers exchanged a look at the power of that call._

_It didn’t surprise either of them when she ordered for another vampire to be stopped and they had to do her bidding.  They were not expecting him to be difficult or to carry silver weapons.  He escaped them, leaving Truth prone on the floor with the silver knife nestled beside his heart.  Wicked stayed with him, and he could see the knowledge in his brother’s eyes that he was near his end.  Wicked held his gaze, knowing that it would comfort Truth to know that he was there and that they would go together as they always promised.  They did a great deed once and became legend among their own kind.  Surely their purpose had been fulfilled._

~~

_Truth landed in the middle of a barren land, walking toward his brother and the same petite brunette.  They lay naked in the moonlight, and he could not resist.  He knew part of it was the nature of the woman before him, her hunger calling to him as_ she _once called to him.  But as he dropped his weapons and removed his clothing he knew that part of it was seeing a small woman in his brother’s embrace lit only by moonlight.  A sight he could not resist then and could not resist now.  This woman he would never love.  Not as he loved the other so long ago._

~~

Visions of battles and feasts danced behind Taibhsear’s eyes.

_She saw a table set with crystal goblets at each chair with large metal trays centered under men hung from their feet.  Truth and Wicked watched with no emotion as a shapechanger moved down the table opening the throat of each man in turn as their Master’s guests streamed in from the other room._

_She saw Truth in the embrace of another petite brunette, this one with a look of cruel satisfaction on her face as she whispers to him before pushing him from the bed.  Taibhsear saw the pain in his eyes and felt the shadow of his brother, so near but too far to comfort him in his torture._

_She saw the brunette who could call to them naked on a bed.  Several others filled the room but Taibhsear had eyes only for Wicked and Truth.  She hadn't known that first night that she'd named them.  Wicked held his brother, keeping him from going to the woman on the bed as he spoke bitter words to one of the others._

_She watched as the two brothers walked together down a tunnel made of smooth stone.  They needed no words as they entered their chambers.  They were given two rooms far removed from the others at their own request.  They desired time away.  For too long they had been solitary.  The only companion the other could have.  It bred a need for solitude in them both.  Wicked was more often found out in the night pursuing his own pleasures, as he had done since before they were turned.  Truth preferred to remain alone in their rooms with his memories.  He was happiest in the quiet with images of a raven haired woman dancing in the moonlight and laughing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wall mentioned in this chapter is the Antonine Wall built by the Romans across Scotland between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde to separate the Roman controlled British Isles from the northern country where the tribes still held control. This wall marked the furthest the Roman Empire moved north in Scotland and is further north than the more commonly known Hadrian’s Wall.


	3. Foreseen

**Chapter Three: Foreseen**

Taibhsear opened her eyes slowly, blinking away the tears she must have been crying through the entire vision.  One hand moved to touch her belly, finding only a fine white line of a scar remaining of her wound.

“You are awake again, thank the Goddess,” the High Priestess murmured, coming to kneel beside her.  “We brought you to my dwelling where we can keep you safe.”

“What have you told them?” Taibhsear asked, sitting up slowly, the cloth still clutched in her hand.

“Nothing yet,” the High Priestess answered.  “Perhaps you should speak to them.”

“The Seer does not speak for herself,” Taibhsear answered.  Grandmother had said those words to her almost every day for the first two winters.

“Who told you such lies?” the High Priestess inquired.  “And even if that were true, you would have a right to speak now.”

“Grandmother is dead.”  Why else would she have a voice now?

“That matters little.  She died so that the Seer might live.  It is the highest purpose of the Keeper.”

Taibhsear laughed bitterly at the words.

“Our village was established long ago,” the High Priestess continued.  “The Seer decreed that we would live together and protect those shut out by the wall the foreigners constructed.  Her daughter, the next Seer, saw visions of the Seer who would see us through the next great trial.  This Seer would have the mark of twin snakes and the mark of the God on her womb.  She would lead us back into the world below the wall and save us from the Time of Fires.”

Taibhsear stared at the High Priestess.  Never had she heard such a story.  Grandmother had told her all the stories, hadn’t she?

“You bear the mark of twin snakes,” the High Priestess declared, touching first one side of her neck and then the other where the two brothers left their marks upon her two winters ago.

“And now the mark of the God is upon your womb,” she added, touching the thin scar left behind by the knife.  “You will lead us as the Seer has always led us.”

Taibhsear met the eyes of the older woman and marveled at the faith reflected in them.  She truly believed that Taibhsear would do this because a Seer had said that it would be so.  With a nod, Taibhsear got to her feet and moved to the door.  The High Priestess followed her, flanked by her attendants.

The people cried out in joy when they saw the Seer walking among them once more and Taibhsear had to wait for their roar to subside before she could be heard.

“I know not how long the Keeper has lied to you,” she began, using the title others had for Grandmother.  Never again would she give the old woman that familiar name.  “I know that she lied about my visions and used her position to manipulate you all.  She and the High Priest meant to kill me.”

The outraged roar that met this pronouncement was even more forceful than their expressions of joy.

“Let the Seer speak,” the High Priestess called out above the noise.

Slowly, the villagers quieted.

“For over a moon, the Keeper was feeding me a brew she claimed was medicine.  It was only my power that saved me from the poison she laced through those nightly draughts.  But they were impatient and I was fading too slowly.  The High Priest was brought to see how ill I was and made another brew to heal me.  Had I drunk from the cup he offered, I would have perished, childless as she claimed I would be.”

Women clung to their husbands and children as Taibhsear continued.  No one in the village had been killed except to protect the Seer since the founding of their village after the raising of the wall.

“She slew the High Priest and would have killed me.  I sorrow for a death without cause, but I will not apologize for helping her to fulfill the rightful duty of her position.”  Taibhsear glanced at the High Priestess before continuing.  She did not know the story of the vision from so long ago, and even if she did, she would not tell it now.

“I have seen the child I will bear,” Taibhsear tells the village.  “The Keeper did not lie about a child to be born in winter with the mark.  She will be the right hand of myself and the protector of my daughter.  She will be gifted but not as I am gifted.  Another with all my gifts will not come for generations.  Each daughter will carry the gifts within her and each daughter will manifest some of those gifts as proof of who they are.  So it has been, so it shall be, and so have I been shown by the Goddess.”

The villagers cheered, happy in the knowledge that all was as it should have been.  Taibhsear turned away from the happy crowd and the High Priestess guided Taibhsear back to the dwelling of the priestesses.  The Keeper’s hut would be burned with its last two occupants as soon as the Seer had removed what she wished to from her former home.  When the ruins cooled there would be plenty of time to remind the village of the vision passed down from High Priestess to High Priestess and generation to generation.  The Time of Fire would come but the Seer would see them safely through it.


	4. Journeying

**Chapter Four: Journeying**

Taibhsear stood beside the High Priestess as the villagers gathered.  Over the past five years she and the High Priestess had guided the villagers in preparing for what must be done.  Taibhsear studied all their faces as they came to listen to her words and visions.  Many she would never see again after the coming winter.  Many would be parted from family forever.  It saddened her, but she knew that they would all live to bear children of their own and start new families that would be safe hidden among the people of the five kingdoms.

“You have all worked hard to prepare for the coming journey,” the High Priestess said.  “We have come together as a village once more and it is that which will save us and preserve us through the Time of Fire.”

“It is the Seer who has saved us,” one woman called.

The villagers cheered together.

“And it is you who will save me,” Taibhsear reminded them.  “Many think me dead, but some still suspect my existence, and it is your loyalty that will preserve my life and the life of my daughter and hers down through the generations as we wait for the Time of Fire to end and acceptance to be offered us.”

She thought of the place the two brothers would one day call home with its strange castles and magical lights.  Her kind would be accepted there.  She longed to go there with them but knew that it could not be her place.  Another Binder of Souls would find safety there and meet with others of their kind, including a young Seer.  Taibhsear envied the women that opportunity.

“Tomorrow, the first groups will begin their journeys,” Taibhsear announced.  “Some to each of the five kingdoms.  You will find villages to call your own, and raise families among the tribes and the Romans.  You will thrive and prosper and be a comfort to your adopted peoples.”

“Today we gather to bless those about to go forth and those who remain behind,” the High Priestess called.  “To praise the Goddess for the gifts she has given us and beseech her aid in our coming journeys.”

Taibhsear moved to stand with the villagers.  To the face of the Goddess she was just another supplicant.  She was no priestess and would never be such.  She was just a woman yet to know a man or bear a child.

The High Priestess and her attendants moved among the people, blessing those who would go forth with the coming dawn.  Once that task was completed they returned to the well.  The High Priestess walked a circle around the gathered villages and calling down the magic of the Goddess to bless the village and keep its spirit alive even as its people moved out into the greater world.

Taibhsear closed her eyes and bathed in the power of the Goddess, taking comfort in the knowledge that she was not alone in watching over her people.  She would not be alone with her burden.  The vision took her by surprise and she did not have time to kneel or sit but fell.  The villagers around Taibhsear caught her and lay her gently on the ground, watching over her.

~~

_“The village has emptied.  Without their Seer there was nothing to keep them together and peaceful.  You will find those that survived.”_

_Wicked and Truth nodded as one to acknowledge their Master’s order._

_“You may take what power they have left as you eliminate them.  Things are far from stable in the isles and we must secure our place there while the sheep are in confusion.”_

_Once again the brothers nodded together.  They must only show deference and obedience to their Master.  Nothing else was asked of them now._

~~

_A little girl laughed as she ran in a small clearing.  She had soft blond hair and gray eyes one could drown in.  Taibhsear recognized her own face in that of the child.  “Tell me a story, Mama,” the girl begged, dancing back to where Taibhsear sat on a blanket near the trees.  “Tell me about my papas.”_

_“Your papas are strong warriors,” Taibhsear told her daughter.  “Strong enough that they could spare me and our people when their masters sent them to kill all of us.”_

_“And their masters never found out?” her child asked._

_“No.  Their masters never questioned their loyalty or the power they gained.  They assumed it was power taken from us with our lives.  They might have discovered it one day but before then, your papas will do a great deed and protect their people at great cost to themselves.  They will wander before they find a new home with strange castles.”_

_“And magic lights?” the girl asked.  “Lights that make pictures and words and change color?”_

_“You have seen the magic lights?” Taibhsear asked, drawing her daughter down to sit with her._

_“In my dreams,” the little girl answered, her mouth puckering slightly as she thought.  “I see my papas and they protect people.  They get to meet two Binders and a Seer and remember you.”_

_“I am glad, my little love,” Taibhsear said, holding her child close.  “I am glad.”_

~~

Taibhsear woke with tears in her eyes.  She would survive to see her child grow.  Not since before the founding of the village had a Seer lived more than a few days after the birth of her daughter.  She laughed through the tears, the sound joyful as the High Priestess helped her to her feet.

“What could bring tears and laughter together?” the High Priestess inquired.

“I shall see my daughter grow,” Taibhsear answered with a soft sigh.  “I will be there to help her as she begins to see visions of her own.”

The smile remained on Taibhsear’s face for weeks following the vision.  The simple joy of knowing that she would survive to raise her own daughter kept up her spirits as first one, and then another, and another group of villages left them.

By the time autumn set in only the High Priestess, her attendants, Taibhsear, and a handful of villagers remained.  They would bring in the small harvest together and then journey south to spread through the five kingdoms.  The High Priestess and two of her attendants would cross the water to the Green Isle.  Two families would go south together along the coast and settle, one in each the smaller two kingdoms.  Two more families would travel south on the great river and find homes in the city of the royals.  Another family, a father, mother, and their daughter, who was marked by the Goddess, would travel with Taibhsear and settle among the northern tribes.

Taibhsear shed tears when she parted from the High Priestess.  Together they had saved their people and they would never again meet in this lifetime.  Taibhsear hoped that one day they would be born again into the world and share each others strength once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “The five kingdoms” refers to the five major kingdoms of the modern British Isles: Scotland, Ireland, England, Cornwall, and Wales.


	5. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pronunciation guides for Síne and Síleas. The consonants are pronounced fairly closely to those in English. The “í” in both is pronounced like that in “wit” or “win.” The “e” at the end of Síne is pronounced like that in “wet.” The “ea” in Síleas is pronounced like the “u” in “us.” These pronunciations are approximate, but should give you the basic idea.

**Chapter Five: Reunion**

Taibhsear watched Síne playing in the grass in front of the small dwelling she shared with the child and her parents.  They had all adopted new names when they arrived.  It wasn’t until the little girl before her began to call her “Auntie Grizel” that she finally felt the name was her own.

“Is she behaving for you?” Síleas asked, returning from her trip into the village.  They lived a little apart from the others and farmed a small piece of land near the forest.

“Yes, she is always a good girl for me,” Taibhsear answered, smiling up at the woman who had become her friend over the six winters since they left the village together.

“That’s because she knows you aren’t her mother,” Síleas said with a laugh.  “Come help me with the stew, Síne.”

“Yes, Mama,” the little girl answered brightly, hurrying into the house.

“She grows so fast,” Taibhsear observed.  She remembered the little child of four winters who journeyed south with them and marveled at the growing girl who would see her tenth winter soon.  Síne would be a woman before long.

“She does, but I am glad for it.  She will be such a help when your little girl arrives.”

Taibhsear smiled for Síleas, but as soon as the woman turned to go in, the smile faded.  She was beginning to worry that she would not be the mother of the child she saw with her gifts.  She had seen the child in a vision fourteen winters ago and thought it was a warning for that night.  What if it had been something else?  They were young enough to still have living relatives, and the child looked like the two brothers.  Was she imagining that the little girl resembled her as well?

“Come help, Auntie Grizel,” Síne called.  “Papa will be home soon.”

Taibhsear pushed her own worries away and smiled for the little girl as she joined mother and daughter in preparing their evening meal.  Time would ease her fears or bring them about.  There was nothing for her to do save await the will of the Goddess.

~~

“Mama!  Mama!” Síne called, her voice shrill and scared.

“What’s wrong, child?” Taibhsear asked as she caught the girl against her.

“The villagers are all scared.  They said two warriors came and asked about anyone new coming to the village six winters ago.”  Síne had been in the village playing with the other children and had only started for home when night came.

“It’s alright,” Taibhsear soothed, petting the girls hair.

“What’s happened?” Síleas asked, breathless as she hurried in from her bedroom with Tavish rushing in behind her.

“Stay here with Síne,” Taibhsear instructed, letting Tavish lift his daughter away from her.  “I will find out what has the villagers so worried.”

“Do not go alone,” Síleas pleaded.

“Do not worry,” Taibhsear replied.  “I will come to no harm.”

It was evidence of how strong the faith of her people was that Síleas only nodded and let Taibhsear walk alone from their home.

Taibhsear was still a ways from the village when one of the men hurried over to her in the darkness.

“Grizel, go back to your home.  The warriors are looking for families that came when you and yours did.  We have told them nothing of you.”

She was touched by his concern for her, having not realized that the village saw them as part of their own now.

“Have you seen the warriors?” she asked, pausing with him.

“Brothers, one light and one dark, but there is something not right about them.”

“Close enough to be twins if their coloring were the same?” Taibhsear inquired.

“How can you know that?” he demanded, startled by her knowledge.

“They are known to me.  I will come to no harm at their hands.”

“Let me walk with you at least,” the man insisted, trotting along beside her as she continued on toward the village.

“Thank you,” Taibhsear answered.

“Síne returned safely?” one of the village women asked as they passed her hut.  Her young son clung to her skirts.

“She was frightened, but will be fine with her parents there to comfort her,” Taibhsear replied.

“Grizel, do not go into the village,” the woman’s husband pleaded.  “They are seeking you and your family.”

“They are not a danger to us or anyone in the village,” Taibhsear answered.  “I know them from long ago.  They are simply looking for me.”

“Go with her,” the man’s wife urged and he joined the man beside her as they walked into the village’s center where more men waited by the well with the two strange warriors.

“We don’t take kindly to strangers demanding things of us,” the chief said.  He stood, flanked by his two sons, glaring down at the two brothers who knelt beside the well, their hands resting palm up on their thighs to show that they held no weapons.

“They are not used to our ways,” Taibhsear informed the men as she moved around the chief and his sons.  “They are friends from long ago,” she added when the nearer son moved to stop her.

“We mean no harm to you and yours,” Truth said, his eyes never leaving Taibhsear.

“You will find shelter and rest in my home this night,” Taibhsear replied, offering a hand to each brother.

The men behind her murmured hesitantly as the brothers each took a hand and rose to their feet.

“I would not endanger my family,” Taibhsear declared to the villagers.  “You know that I would not.  If I did not trust these two brothers I would not take them to my home.”

“How can you know such strangers?” the chief demanded.

“I was a stranger to you once,” Taibhsear answered.

“But you are part of our village now, Grizel,” his eldest son answered.

“And it is as one of you that I promise you are safe from these men,” she replied.  “I swear on my life they will harm no one.”

The chief stared at her another moment before nodding.

Truth and Wicked silently followed her from the village and across the stretch of land to where her dwelling stood apart from the rest.

“Wait here,” she implored before they reached the house.  “The child was frightened, and I wish to reassure her first.”

“Of course,” Wicked answered for them.

Taibhsear hurried into the house, finding the little family sitting together at the hearth.

“Who were you speaking to?” Tavish asked, his arms around his wife and daughter.

“You trust me, do you not?” Taibhsear replied.

“Of course,” Síleas answered quickly.

“We could never doubt you,” Tavish confirmed.

“Take Síne to bed with you tonight.  She has enough gifts for my friends to frighten her.”

“Friends?” Síleas asked, her voice rising in fear.

“These two men are important to me.  Without them I would be dead twice over.”

“Twice?” Tavish asked in a startled voice, holding his family closer.

“When I was eighteen winters they came to the village.  I was left one small thing from them, and it was that token that allowed me to survive what the Keeper tried to do.  The poison should have killed me.  The knife wound would have.”

“We will keep her close,” Síleas promised.

“Sleep well, Síne,” Taibhsear said, kissing the girl on the brow.  “Know that your parents hold you and you will be safe in their embrace.”

The wide-eyed child simply nodded in reply before going with her mother into the bedroom.

“If they ask in the village, you must answer that the two warriors slept by your hearth tonight and left at dawn,” Taibhsear instructed Tavish.

“I will do this,” he replied, bowing his head before joining his wife and daughter.

Taibhsear returned to the two brothers and led them into the forest to a clearing she had seen so many times before she ever arrived here.

“I know you will not harm me, but I must protect them.  I cannot invite you into their home.”

“We would not harm them,” Truth assured her.

“I know, but the girl would see what you are.  I do not want her frightened of you.”

“She is young to recognize such things,” Wicked commented.  He gazed at the woman before him as if she were a dream.  She looked exactly the same except that her skin was not so fair as it was fourteen years before on the only other night they had ever seen her.

“So was I,” Taibhsear answered.  “They have sent you to kill us all, haven’t they?”

“Yes,” Truth answered, always living up to his name.

“We have accomplished their goal without needing to kill any of your people,” Wicked assured her quickly.  They had decided even before leaving for the Isles that they would not harm her people because they were hers.

“And what is their goal?” Taibhsear inquired.  She was curious about this Council that they served.  It seemed to thrive on cruelty and petty insults.

“Quiet in these isles while our own solidify their positions here.”

“My people will be no threat to your kind until after the Time of Fire has passed.”  It was the only way for them all to survive.  Taibhsear had explained to them all how important it was for them to hide in plain sight.  To be seen but not feared or suspected.

“The Time of Fire?” Truth asked, his eyes having never left her face.

Her bright green eyes held fire in their depth for a moment.

“The Romans put aside their old ways and spread the faith of the carpenter.  Many of us will burn.  Your kind and my own.  To survive, my people will hide what we are.  When the Time of Fire is passed we will be safe once more and one day all will come full circle in a strange place with castles reaching into the air and magical lights that color the night.”

“You fear the infant cult?” Wicked asked.

“As should you,” Taibhsear answered.  “The light of faith will blind so many.”

“They are too small to threaten you here,” Truth said, not understanding why she would fear such a small group.

“Now, but they will not always be so.  They will spread further than the Empire ever will.”

“I can see the knowledge in your eyes,” Truth answered.  There was such depth to those green eyes and he thought that he could almost fall into them.

“You said you accomplished their goal without bloodshed.”  Taibhsear needed to hear from their own lips that none of her people needed to fear.

“We have found most of them and spoken with them.  Several were willing to move to another village, so we saw them safely on the road before leaving behind a scene that would reach the ears of our own kind,” Truth answered her.

“The Council believes few of you remain. And they will hear of the deaths of enough of you to be at ease as long as your people remain quiet,” Wicked added.

Taibhsear sighed softly, her eyes closing for a moment.  “I saw it long ago, but I needed to hear you say it.”  When she opened her eyes she was struck once again by how handsome the brothers were.  She still had not seen their equal.

“Saw it?” Truth inquired.

“I am the Seer,” she whispered.  “I saw you coming before you ever arrived at the village.  Seers before me had seen you come to me and leave without harming me.  I have seen the great deed you will do one day.  Your fate and my own are not mysteries to me.”

“And what have you seen of your own fate?” Wicked asked.  She was so calm as she spoke of such things.  The Council would have been better served making her its servant.  He was intensely grateful that they were too deluded to do so.

“I will be given the gift of seeing my own child grow to be a woman,” she answered.  “I will be the first Seer in hundreds of winters to survive the birth of her daughter.”

“You are wedded now?” Truth asked.  It would pain him to hear that she belonged to another, but he would not jeopardize her.

“No,” Taibhsear replied, smiling.  “I will never be bound to a man in such a way.”

“Yet you will bear a child?” Wicked asked.  Even these northern tribes held to ways that had a man laying claim to the woman who would bear his children.

“You sought me out,” Taibhsear replied, ignoring his question.  “Why did you come here?”

“You know why,” Wicked answered.  If she had seen so much, surely she had seen that they desired her.  Truth had never wanted any woman as he did this small witch, and Wicked would willingly give up every other woman in the world for as long as she would be theirs.

“I need to hear you say it,” she said, her eyes meeting Wicked’s.

“If we could make you ours forever we would,” Truth answered for them.  He was not a master in his own right, and Wicked had sworn the day he realized he had become a master and his brother never would, that he would never take a Servant.  He would not enter into a bond Truth could not share with him.

“We are your servants however you will have us,” Wicked added.  His brother would be content to be near her even for only a few nights.  He desired so much more from her but would not ask for a single thing if she did not offer it.

“You have spared my life once and saved it twice,” Taibhsear told them.  “How could I refuse you anything?”  She stepped closer to them, laying a hand lightly on each of their arms.  “You will not be the death of me now,” she added, her eyes meeting Truth’s first and then Wicked’s.

“What would you have of us?” Truth asked, his fingers gently brushing her cheek.

Taibhsear’s eyes closed as she leaning into his touch.  His cool skin against her face brought heat to her body.  A heat she remembered from that night so many winters ago.

“I would grant anything you desire,” she replied softly, her breath warm against his wrist.  “I can deny you nothing.”

“And that is why we cannot ask,” Wicked countered, his hand circling her slim waist.  She was such a tiny thing that for a moment he wondered if she would break.

“And they say you’re wicked,” she answered, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

“You don’t think I am?” Wicked gazed down at her as his hand caressed her side.

“You are teasing him,” Truth realized, amazed that the little witch before them was willing to tease a vampire that was twice sent to kill her.

“Perhaps,” Taibhsear said with a smile.  Having them both touching her was making her mind a little fuzzy.  Her magic buzzed along her skin, excited about what might follow.  “Come sit with me.  The night is still young,” she invited, touching their hands gently before easing back and sitting near the tree line.  The vision of her daughter dancing in this clearing flashes before her eyes.  This was the spot where she would sit watching her daughter enjoy the sunshine and ask about her papas.

“And what is that smile for?” Wicked asked as he sat on her right side.

“The gift you will give me one day,” she answered, unwilling to tell them of the daughter she had seen so many times in her visions.

“A gift?” Truth asked from her left.

“A gift,” she answered, smiling more broadly.  She had no idea how to go about anything that would lead to that gift.  Surely they would be able to guide her.

“You are nervous,” Wicked realized, stroking her hair.

Taibhsear ducked her head.

“Tell us what is troubling you and we will help you,” Truth promised touching her cheek again.

“I’ve so little experience I don’t even know how to pose the question,” she confessed.

“Experience with what?” Truth persisted.

Taibhsear blushed, feeling the heat rise along her cheeks to meet the cool brush of Truth’s fingers.

“What are you asking of us?” Wicked questioned, using a gentle touch on her chin to tilt her head up again to look at him.

“I will never belong to anyone, not really,” she said, her voice sad.  “But for a little while I could pretend.”

“Pretend?” Truth asked, looking at his brother.

“That you were ours?” Wicked guessed.

Taibhsear nodded.  She waited for them to turn her away.  They were brothers.  How could she belong to both of them?

Wicked’s eyes flicked to Truth then back to the tiny witch between them.  His brother had never wanted anyone like he desired this woman.  He would not take this from Truth so he let his hand fall away from her face.

“Do your really mean ours?” Truth asked, reluctant to take what she seemed to be offering.

“I didn’t mean to offend,” she said quickly, shrinking away from them a little. “You’re brothers.  I understand.  I just…”

“Shh,” Wicked said, placing a finger over her lips to silence her.  “That was not what he meant.”

Her eyes flickered from one to the other, confusion obvious on her face.

“Do you really mean to offer yourself to both of us?” Truth asked, attempting to clarify his question.  “I do not wish to misinterpret what you are saying to us.”

“It would seem strange for it to be one and not the other,” she answered when Wicked lifted his finger from her lips.  She licked them nervously.  “You are meant to be together more than is allowed.”  Taibhsear did not entirely understand what prompted her to say that, but it was the truth.

“You are certain?” Truth persisted.  She had confessed to being a complete innocent and he did not wish to take advantage of her confusion or inexperience.

“Yes,” she answered, staring into his gray eyes.

Truth could see Wicked’s nod without taking his eyes from the small woman.  Leaning down he brushed his lips over hers gently before pulling away.  He continued to stroke her cheek gently with his fingertips.

Wicked leaned down to kiss her as well, his hand cupping her other cheek.  Not since they were human had he shared a woman with Truth.  She had been Wicked’s at first but did not wish to leave when Truth returned as every other woman had.  That had been something born of her wantonness and Truth’s frustration in finding a woman of his own.  This would be something entirely different.

Taibhsear’s eyes closed and she smiled.  Having both of them touching her was exhilarating.  Warmth moved through her as she waited for them to move again.  When she opened her eyes she found the brothers staring at one another, their faces serious, and she could feel them communicating across the bond she had given them.  It had grown even stronger over the years.

Wicked nodded to his brother before turning back to their small companion.  “This is truly your wish?” he asked, his thumb brushing across her cheek.

“It was always what I wished,” she answered, her face sad for a moment.  “It just wasn’t safe before.”

Wicked remembered the other night he and Truth had spent with this delicate creature, and his hand slid down to move her hair away from her neck, revealing the two neat scars from his bite years ago.

“You said it would be the death of you,” he murmured remembering her sounds of pain.

“Then it would have been,” Taibhsear answered.  “The Keeper would have made sure of that.”  Since the death of the Keeper she had seen many visions of the Seers before her and watched them unwittingly drink the draught brought to them by their Keeper and then witnessed the life fading from them.

“But not now?” Truth asked, his fingers touching his own mark on her throat.

“No.  I have seen it.”  Taibhsear smiled at the thought of raising her daughter.

Wicked glanced at his brother once more, and Truth nodded in reply.  He would bow to his brother’s experience in these matters.  Truth had never lain with an innocent and wished for her experience to be wondrous.

Wicked kissed her again, his hand guiding her head back slightly as his tongue parted her lips.  She tasted sweet and everything about her movements was tentative.  She was more truly innocent than anyone he had ever tasted.

Wicked pulled back, taking in the sight of her parted lips, closed eyes, and rapturous expression.  He stroked her cheek until she opened her eyes and smiled up at him.

Taibhsear was content to let them guide her.  They would never harm her.  She could feel it in her soul.  She watched the two brothers once more, seeing Truth’s hesitation and Wicked’s encouragement.  Did Truth not want this?  Her magic told her he did, but could she trust it not to be serving its own purposes?  Since she met the brothers, her magic had often done things she never intended but always it helped her.

When Truth’s lips met her own, Taibhsear had no more doubts.  There was restrained passion in the gentle touch of lips and the soft play of his tongue against hers.  When she reached out to touch his arm she found him trembling.  Her eyes searched his face as he pulled away, trying to understand his reaction.

Truth stroked her hair, smiling gently down at her question filled eyes.  He kissed her again savoring the sweetness of her and the warmth radiating from her flushed skin.  She clung to Truth’s arms as Wicked’s hands moved gently over her body, awakening something deep inside her.  They explored her back and her stomach, then his hands cupped her breasts, kneading them gently.

Taibhsear whimpered, pressing closer to them as tension built somewhere low in her body.  Nothing had ever felt quite like that before.  She was on her knees now, still clinging to Truth, who knelt before her, as Wicked removed her belt and slowly unwound her tartan.  She could hear him doing something with the cloth to the side but was too distracted by the feel of Truth’s hands gently gliding up her sides to focus on what his brother was doing.  Taibhsear let her tongue slip between Truth’s lips, finding that it fit between his fangs even as his tongue guided hers away from them.

When Wicked returned he removed his brother’s belt and Taibhsear heard the faint noises when both the brothers’ swords were laid down in the grass.

Wicked smiled to see her in his brother’s arms, pressed tightly against his chest as they kissed.  Truth wished for the girl’s first experience to be as perfect as possible and doubted his own abilities.  Wicked planned to give her something wondrous to remember without excluding his brother.  There would be time enough for other nights.  They still had other isles to search and their Master would not expect them to return to court for weeks, perhaps months.

With their swords safely out of the way, Wicked removed his shirt and moved behind his brother, his hands brushing against their little witch as he untied the neck of Truth’s shirt and pulled it out of his britches.

Truth shifted nervously, but stilled when Wicked placed a calming hand on his back, silently asking Truth to trust him.  With his brother settled for the moment Wicked took one of Taibhsear’s hands from Truth’s arm and placed it against his bare side, followed by the other.

As Wicked pulled Truth’s shirt up, his brother leaned back from kissing the delicate girl in his arms and let Wicked pull the cloth away.

Taibhsear’s eyes moved to the scar across Truth’s chest, one hand reaching to touch it.  “She bled you,” she murmured.  Why had the Keeper done such a thing?

“She wished us to know she was serious,” Truth answered the unasked question.  “Her threat would have meant nothing if she could not prove she was faster.”

“It saved me,” Taibhsear whispered, leaning forward to place her lips gently against the scar.

“From us,” Truth said, saddened that she thought so.

“No, from her,” Taibhsear answered, looking up at his eyes and leaning a little away.  “I wiped the blood from the blade and kept the scrap of cloth.”  She shifted back as she spoke, pulling her shift out from under her legs.  “It helped me call visions of you,” she continued, rising fully onto her knees again.  “That’s what cured the poison,” she added as she pulled her shift over her head and set it beside her on the grass.  “It saved me from her knife as well,” she murmured, looking down at her own scar as her fingers traced over it.

“Her knife did this?” Wicked asked, his fingers brushing hers as he traced the scar that ran down her belly.  She was nude before them but both brothers paid more attention to the slim scar than the rest of her.

“She was trying to kill me.”

“What happened?” Truth inquired gently, his hands resting on her hips.

“She let go of the knife, and I left it in her heart.”  No one but the High Priestess knew how the Keeper and the High Priest died.  Only that they were struck down so that the Seer might live.

“You are very strong to have been able to survive such things,” Wicked told her, his other hand touching her face and tilting it up so she would look at them.

“There is no shame in preserving your own life at the cost of another trying to end it,” Truth assured her, kissing her forehead tenderly.

“I know,” Taibhsear replied, closing her eyes and savoring his touch.  “She was blinded by her own lust for power.”

“We are glad she failed,” Wicked told her, moving behind their delicate companion.  Kneeling, he pulled her gently into his lap so that her back rested against his chest.

Truth’s eyes flickered to his brother in a moment of confusion.

“Tonight will be about you, little love,” Wicked told her, stroking her arm with one hand while the other arm stayed wrapped around her waist.  “There will be time to teach you more tomorrow night.”

Taibhsear nodded.  She was trusting them to guide her through the foreign territory before her.

Truth’s eyes moved over her, seeing anew how small she truly was as she sat nestled against his brother.  His hands moved to explore her, tracing the line of her arms and up her shoulders to her neck, his fingertips lingering on their marks.  She moaned softly when he cupped her breasts, caressing his thumb across taut nipples.  Taibhsear’s eyes closed, and her head rested against Wicked as Truth caressed her, sending shivers through her.

Wicked smiled as he watched his brother touch her.  He gently rearranged her legs so they bent at the knee and ran back along his own, displaying her to Truth’s hungry eyes.  Wicked ran teasing fingers up and down her inner thigh until she was vibrating with desire, the scent of her arousal thick in the air around them.  He could see the naked need on his brother’s face at the aroma, and Wicked smiled.

Truth’s confusion flared again when Wicked took his wrist, guiding his hand to the source of her intoxicating scent.  Their eyes met and Wicked encouraged his brother to trust him as he guided Truth’s fingers against her folds and the small nub above them.

Taibhsear moaned between them, squirming slightly in Wicked’s lap at the intense and unfamiliar, yet very pleasant, sensations the brothers’ touch was creating.

“Relax,” Wicked crooned to both of them.  “Trust and it will be wonderful.”

Truth smiled slightly at his brother’s clever means of reassuring him as he guided the woman in his arms.  Leaning down, he kissed her, trusting Wicked to direct the rest.

Taibhsear gasped into Truth’s mouth when Wicked guided two fingers between the lips of her entrance, one Truth’s and one his own.  She moaned and whimpered as he probed gently further until their fingers pressed the tiniest bit inside her.

Wicked’s thumb found the sensitive nub once more, circling over it gently.  He held her firmly around the waist as she began to try to move against their hands.  Their fingers moved just inside her, circling and gently massaging on their way in as Wicked pushed her arousal further with his thumb.

Unable to move her hips, Taibhsear reached out for anything to hold onto as the sensations rippled through her.  Her hands clutched at Truth’s arms and she pressed eagerly up into their kiss, her tongue dancing with his as she trembled.

Truth cupped her cheek with his free hand, delighted with her eagerness.  He could feel the fine tremor running through her in reaction to Wicked’s ministrations.  A soft growl, almost a purr, sounded in Truth’s throat when he tasted her blood in their mouths.  He pressed more firmly into the kiss, wishing to have all of her but knowing he shouldn’t risk drinking from her.  That little taste of blood from her tongue scraping his fang would content him.

Wicked quickened his circling thumb as he scented her blood in the air and felt his brother’s eager reaction.  A moment later Taibhsear cried out, her nails biting into Truth’s skin as she spasmed helplessly between the two brothers.  As she danced in ecstasy, Wicked shifted his hand, plunging their fingers deep into her slick channel before pulling both their hands away, the scent of her sex mixing with blood in the air around them

When she was still again, Truth pulled reluctantly back from their kiss, licking his finger clean while her eyes remained closed.  Her hands relaxed on his arms and slid down slowly to her lap.

“Was it wonderful?” Wicked asked his breath tickling along Taibhsear’s ear.  His eyes were for Truth as a smug smile played along his lips.

Taibhsear nodded, her eyes still closed, and her body feeling warm and heavy.  Nothing short of magic had ever made her feel this good.  A dull ache registered through the pleasant lassitude but she refused to acknowledge it as she blinked up at Truth.

Nothing she had been taught about laying with a man had prepared her for this.  She had been told to expect pain and something entirely different to be entering her body.

Truth stroked her cheek, waiting quietly for her to recover.  Wicked wrapped his other arm around her, resting his head on her shoulder with his lips against her neck.  He could still feel his brother’s desire for the small woman in his arms.  There simply was not time before they must leave in order to return to their host before dawn.  They were staying significantly further south in the hope that none of their kind would learn where they were spending their nights.

“You have to leave, don’t you?” Taibhsear asked after long moments of silence between them.

“Only until tomorrow night,” Truth answered in an attempt to soothe the pain of parting.

“You will return tomorrow?” she asked, her head shifting so she could look toward the village.

Wicked raised his head and kissed her hair.  “Unless you wish for us not to,” he said, making the offer even though it would hurt Truth and himself to be away from her now.

“I want to see you again,” she answered quickly.  “But you mustn’t come to the village,” she implored.  “Meet me here.  I will come at sunset and wait for you.”

“We will join you here as soon as we can,” Truth assured her, kissing her softly again before retrieving her clothes.

Wicked stood and set Taibhsear on her feet so that Truth could dress her.  He pulled his own shirt back on along with his sword belt.  They still needed to shed blood with their blades tonight.  They were not doing the type of hunting the Council had asked them to but hunt they would.

“In the village they called you Grizel,” Wicked said softly while Truth donned his shirt and sword.  “Before they only called you the Seer.”

“What would you have us call you,” Truth asked.

“You may call me Taibhsear,” she answered smiling.  “It is more title than name, but it is the one I have known the longest.”

“Title?” Wicked inquired, drawing her in against him for a moment.

“It is the old language,” Taibhsear explained.  “It translates very roughly to Seer but also means more in some ways.”

“You will be our Taibhsear then,” Wicked replied, releasing her so that Truth could gather her in his arms and kiss her hair.

“Be safe until we see you again,” Truth instructed.

“If you will do the same,” she answered with a soft laugh.  “You must not be seen returning to the house.  Go on.  I will come to no harm.”

“You have seen it to be so?” Wicked teased her.

“It will be many years before any lasting harm will befall me, of that I am sure,” she replied quite seriously.  “Until tomorrow,” she called, hurrying into the trees toward her home.

“Tomorrow,” Truth answered in a voice far too soft for her to hear.  He turned to face his brother and they nodded to one another before flying deeper into the forest in search of appropriate prey.


	6. Joinings

**Chapter Six: Joinings**

The next afternoon, Tavish was working in the field with Síne as his helper and Taibhsear was helping Síleas with the washing.  “Will your friends return tonight?” Síleas asked cautiously.

“Not to the house or the village,” Taibhsear answered, unwilling to lie to her friend but wishing not to frighten her either.

“Síne told me they make her skin crawl with cold,” the concerned mother replied.  “Will you be seeing them tonight?”

“Yes,” Taibhsear answered, straightening from the wash tub to look at her companion.

“I know what that sensation on her skin means.  They’re dangerous.  Do not go alone to see such creatures,” Síleas implored with a gentle voice and a concerned look.

“They are dangerous,” Taibhsear agreed.  “But these two will never be a danger to me.  I swear that to you.”  She watched as her friend struggled with her knowledge of the type of creatures the brothers were and Taibhsear’s assurances which challenged all she knew.

“Why must you go alone to see them?” Síleas asked, trying to understand why the Seer would put herself at such risk.

“By virtue of what I am, I will never belong to any man as you belong to Tavish,” Taibhsear answered.  She saw the shock on Síleas face when she realized what would follow from such a declaration.  “I will have the gift of seeing my daughter grow as you have seen yours grow.  They are who will give me that gift.”

“They?” Síleas asked, too shocked by that to continue questioning the other woman’s motives.

Taibhsear shrank away from her friend’s incredulous tone.  “I know my daughter will have the eyes of one and the hair of the other with my face,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Síleas said quickly, moving around the wash tub to fold Taibhsear in her arms.  “Don’t cry,” she implored, stroking Taibhsear’s hair.  “I know how lonely you’ve been.”  Síleas felt horrible for making the Seer cry.  All her life she had been isolated and alone.  Tavish and his wife had tried so hard to make her feel like a part of their family.

“Please,” Taibhsear begged.  “Please let me go alone.”

“Shh,” Síleas murmured.  “I won’t interfere.  I promise.”

Taibhsear nodded against the other woman’s shoulder, trying to stop her own tears.  The thought of someone coming upon them in the clearing frightened her.  No one in the village would listen to her if they were to be discovered.

“Come inside,” Síleas invited, leading Taibhsear back into their home.  “You have already made yourself theirs, haven’t you?” she asked, gently pushing her friend into a chair.

Taibhsear nodded, waiting for the reaction she feared.

“They haven’t hurt you, have they?” Síleas inquired.

“No, they would never,” Taibhsear answered hurriedly.

“But they will,” Síleas replied, rubbing her hands along Taibhsear’s arms to comfort her friend.  “They will have to leave you and that will cause you pain.  I can see it in your eyes.”

“It won’t be their decision,” Taibhsear protests.

“I will keep your secret and keep Tavish and Síne close to me when you disappear tonight and any other night,” Síleas promised.  “But you must promise me that when you know you are with child you will ask them to come once more to the village to see you.  The villagers must see them so you can protect yourself.”

“Why?” Taibhsear asked, confused by the other woman’s request.

“You will never belong to any man, but the villagers here do not understand that.  You must tell them that one of the two is your husband and he has been away fighting for some lord or another and could not take you with him.  He only rarely is able to come and visit you but provides for you when he does.  Only with such a story will the villagers accept that you are suddenly with child and not by any of them.”

Taibhsear nodded.  “I will ask them to return when I am certain,” she promised.  Would they wish to know that she would bear a child?  Would they do as she asked without an explanation first?  Taibhsear was uncertain but let Síleas soothe her before they returned to the washing.  They worked in silence once more and Taibhsear tried to decide what to tell the two brothers when she needed them to return to the village.

~~

Truth worried that their Taibhsear would not be in the clearing when they arrived hours after sunset.  Their host had detained them at sunset, and then their Master had contacted Wicked to learn how their mission was progressing.  Both were relieved to have still been at the castle when that happened, but nothing Wicked said to his brother would reassure him that the little witch would still be waiting for them.

When their feet touched down in the clearing Truth finally began to relax because the small woman was curled up at the base of a tree soundly asleep with her tartan wrapped around her head and shoulders.

“Wait,” Wicked cautioned softly when Truth took a step forward.  It distracted his brother enough that he noticed the magic in the air.

“There is no one closer than her home,” Truth murmured as they assessed the situation.

“It feels like hers,” Wicked added, moving forward slowly.  Taibhsear had done nothing to make them suspicious and had offered herself so completely to them the night before that Wicked did not believe her treacherous, but even before they were turned, they had been cautious by nature.

“It is,” Truth agreed, moving with his brother but staying a step behind.  When it came to magic Wicked had the better defenses, so he always moved first when they felt it nearby.

Wicked stopped when he felt himself crossing the circle of power.  Slowly, he took a step back, unwilling to break a circle he was unfamiliar with.

Taibhsear’s eyes opened when she felt something cross the circle.  Not even a bird had done so and she had fallen asleep waiting.  As her vision came into focus once more she found the two brothers standing just outside the circle, their expressions guarded, bodies held very still.  A wave of Taibhsear’s hand banished her circle of protection as she sat up once me.

“I did not wish to be caught unawares,” she explained to them, getting to her feet.  “The circle is gone,” she added when neither brother moved.

“We did not mean to keep you waiting,” Wicked answered, moving forward with Truth close behind.

“You still came,” Taibhsear replied, reaching to touch their arms.  Being close to them awoke the tension in her belly again.  Her body remembered, as did her magic, and both desired what the brothers had offered her the night before.

“And you waited,” Truth responded, cupping her face in his hand.  He regretted doubting her, but it had been so long since either of them had been able to trust anyone but the other.

“I would have waited all night,” she assured him, leaning into his touch.

Both brothers could feel the truth of her words.  Truth leaned down, kissing her softly in gratitude.  Wicked just smiled, pleased to see his brother willing to enjoy her even in such a small way.

“We hope to never make you wait so long again,” Wicked told her as Truth leaned back again, his hand remaining on her face.

“I would wait forever,” she answered, her eyes closed.

Wicked kissed her softly as well.  He had no response for her words and hoped fervently that she would not have to wait for them again.  Her arousal was already scenting the air around them when Wicked leaned away.

Taibhsear opened her eyes to gaze up at the handsome men before her.  A shiver of anticipation ran through her as she thought of the pleasure they had given her the night before.  She would worry about explanations and protecting herself later.  For the night she would surrender herself to them again.

None of them spoke as the brothers removed their boots and swords and Wicked pulled his shirt off.

“Would your circle keep others away?” Truth asked, his hands caressing down her arms.

Taibhsear smiled up at him, pleased that he would ask her to protect them when they were such skilled warriors.

“Yes, yes it can,” she answered before closing her eyes and visualizing the protections she desired.  A circle no thinking creature could cross followed the edge of the trees and another, further out, that would allow no magic to cross it.  “We will not be interrupted,” she said when her eyes opened again.

Truth had taken off his shirt while she concentrated on her magic, and her eyes were drawn once more to the scar across his chest.

Wicked moved behind Taibhsear, bending down to place a gentle kiss over the marks he left on her throat so many years ago.  She shivered at the touch and his hands slid down her arms as he rolled his eyes up to watch his brother.

Truth devoured the sight of her as Wicked removed her belt and unwound her tartan.  She raised her arms to assist as Wicked pulled her chemise over her head, leaving her pale and gleaming in the light of the moon.

A soft moan fell from Taibhsear’s lips as Wicked’s hands explored her, and she shivered despite the warmth of the night.

Truth could not keep away from her as Wicked touched her.  Their lips met and Truth drank in the sweetness of her.  It wasn’t long before Wicked was guiding his hands to caress her as well.  Wicked was so insistent that everything would be beautiful and wondrous if Truth would follow his lead tonight, so when he began to unlace Truth’s trousers, his brother did not object.

Taibhsear made a noise low in her throat when Wicked stepped behind her again, pressing her gently between them with his own sex rubbing against her back and Truth’s pressing into her stomach as their kiss ended and he stepped into her embrace.  It felt so natural to her to hold him in her arms as his brother held them both.

“Trust,” Wicked murmured into her hair.  “Trust, relax, and all will be as it should.”

Taibhsear nodded and had to stifle a noise of regret when the brothers shifted away from her.

Wicked spread her tartan on the ground and motioned his brother to lie down.  Together they would show Taibhsear what she seemed not to know.  He guided Taibhsear so that she knelt across Truth’s thighs.

Truth watched her eyes grow round as she gazed down at him.  It was likely she’d never seen a man erect before and he hoped fervently she was not frightened by what she beheld.

Wicked settled behind Taibhsear, taking her hands gently in his own.  “Touch him,” he whispered in her ear, gliding her fingers down the length of Truth’s stomach before releasing them with her fingertips brushing the dark, curly hairs that framed Truth’s manhood.

Truth’s breath came out in a hiss as her fingers feathered over him followed by a sigh as she wrapped him in her hands

Taibhsear marveled at the feel of him.  The skin was velvety, softer even than that of a new born babe, yet the flesh was firm and solid.  She gloried in the moan Truth gave her as she caressed him.  She wondered if it felt like what they had done for her the night before.

Even as she thought of it, Wicked’s hand found her most sensitive place, his fingers coaxing and caressing as that heat grew in her belly.  When he slid one long finger into her wetness there was no resistance and soon another joined the first as he made sure she would be ready for all that Truth could give her this night.

Pleasure made Taibhsear’s hands tremble and she pulled them back from Truth’s body, not wanting to risk hurting him because she was so completely distracted.  Wicked smiled when her hands reached out only moments later, pressing against Truth’s hips.

“Truth,” Wicked whispered, wanting to see his brother’s eyes.

Gray eyes met gray blue and Wicked silently told his brother to take what was rightfully his.  When Truth finally nodded, Wicked drew his hand slowly away from her sex and guided her to crawl slowly forward over Truth, whose hands gently held her hips, stopping her when she was where he wished her to be.

“Relax and trust,” Wicked murmured to the woman in his arms, his hands caressing her naked breasts as his brother slowly pressed inside her.

Wicked had done the preparations, so when the head of Truth’s member slid inside Taibhsear’s body it felt glorious to her and she could feel the excitement that thrilled through the man below her melding with the satisfaction from the one at her back.

Together the brothers slowly lowered her down until her body met Truth’s.  Wicked kissed her neck, petting her sides as Truth caressed her breasts and they waited for her to adjust.

Truth was almost lost to the sensation of her warm, tender flesh surrounding him in moist heat, so Wicked guided their little witch to move, bringing gasps and moans to her lips as well as Truth’s.

When Taibhsear was moving on her own, gently riding Truth’s body, Wicked reached between her legs once more, teasing his fingers across that small bud of flesh just above where the two were joined.  Her movements grew more eager as pleasure spilled out from where Wicked touched her.  She wasn’t sure how her body understood exactly how to move as Truth’s hips began to shift under her.

Wicked had to guide her once more with a hand on her hip so that she could match his brother’s rhythm.  He could sense the growing weight of magic within the woman he held and prayed nothing would go wrong as he pressed more firmly into that small bud of flesh.

Taibhsear shrieked, her eyes going wide as her body was consumed with pleasure and her magic boiled out to fill the circle she had created.

Truth’s shout echoed hers and Wicked rode the edge of his brother’s pleasure as Truth found true release for the first time in decades.

When Taibhsear’s body quieted in Wicked’s arms, he gently lifted her, lying her in his brother’s arms and spooning himself around her, his own need forgotten in the face of the joy in his brother’s expression.

Truth rolled onto his side, kissing Taibhsear tenderly as he held her, his hand clasping Wicked’s shoulder in thanks.  It had been wondrous, just as Wicked promised.


	7. Just Enjoy

**Chapter Seven: Just Enjoy**

Taibhsear hummed as she stirred the stew they would have for their supper.  Tavish and Síleas were working in the field and Síne had been given the afternoon to go play with the other children in the village.  Taibhsear had labored with the others for most of the day but returned to their little home early to prepare the meal.

“And they were all talking about the two warriors.  The chief’s sons weren’t happy about them having been here.”  Síne’s voice drifted in from the yard as she talked with her parents.

“That is because they did not have a chance to get to know them properly,” Síleas answered calmly.

“The chief’s sons are warriors and do not trust strange warriors easily,” Tavish added.

“But Aunt Grizel trusts them,” Síne protested.

“Yes, she does,” Síleas answered, smiling across the room at Taibhsear as the trio entered.  “But you must remember, always, that our faith is not to be shared with anyone but kin.”

“I know,” Síne answers quickly.  “I still told the others that I think they shouldn’t fear the two because I didn’t.”

“And what did they say to that?” Tavish asked.

“They said I had seen more of them, so I had a reason, but it didn’t mean they had to take my word on it.”

Síleas smiled down at her daughter’s indignation over that.

“They’ll believe me later,” Síne said proudly.  “They always do,” she added smugly.

“You are often their ring leader,” Taibhsear offered.

“That’s because they know I’m better than they are at so much,” Síne answered, grinning proudly.

“So you are,” Taibhsear agreed.  “Now gather the bowls so we can sup.”

Síne hurried to obey and soon they were enjoying the thick stew.  Síleas watched her friend closely during the meal, aware of some subtle change in her since the day before.  It was almost apparent but she could never quite decide what exactly marked the difference in her friend.

As they cleaned away the remainder of their meal, Síleas took the opportunity to brush her bare skin against Taibhsear’s.  She knew the Seer would not take any insult or even realize it was an intentional brush, but it allowed Síleas to pick up the wash of contentment and love that flowed in and around Taibhsear tonight.

Síleas sighed.  She had promised not to interfere in her friend’s dealings with the two warriors but regretted the promise already.  They would leave, and Taibhsear would be devastated.  She sent a silent prayer to the Goddess to protect Taibhsear and promised to take good care of her after the men were gone.

~~

Taibhsear was eager as she slipped from the house and made her way to the clearing.  She brought a blanket tonight, and once she had spread it out on the ground she sat to construct her circles.  The first one would allow only Wicked and Truth to pass and once they did, the other two circles would come to life, twins of the ones from the night before.  She would protect them from everything she could.

In preparation for their arrival, Taibhsear removed her clothing, neatly folding her shift to the side and lay down with her tartan spread over her like a blanket.  Smiling, she closed her eyes, remembering how safe she had felt cuddle between the two brothers the night before as they talked quietly.

They had spoken of their upbringing in a village across the water and east in the empire.  Their mother had been a healer, and had trained them both in the way of herbs, draughts, and compresses.  Truth has even been able to learn some small healing spells from her.  Their father had been the village’s strongest hunter, and in their youth had been war chief for the tribe they claimed.  He had taught them everything he knew.  It eased some worry in her mind to know that they understood the ties of tribe, village, and family.

Taibhsear had drifted into a light doze by the time the brothers arrived, landing softly next to her blanket and feeling her magic shift to protect them from the notice of anyone outside.  Truth gazed tenderly down at the small woman waiting for them.

“She must be eager,” Wicked whispered with a soft chuckle, motioning to her discarded garments.

“As are you,” Truth accused his brother.

Wicked did not bother to deny the fact as he began to remove his own clothing.  Truth followed his example and soon they slipped naked under the tartan to hold their beloved witch between them.

In her sleep she cuddled closer, burying her face in the crook of Wicked’s neck as one small hand clung to Truth’s arm as it wrapped around them both.

“Even in sleep she reaches for us both,” Wicked said softly, wonder in his voice.

“If only we could stay,” Truth replied, sighing and leaning down to nuzzle her hair.

Taibhsear made a small noise as she woke, the smile spreading across her face as she felt the brothers holding her.

“One of you is warmer than the other,” she murmured, noticing the temperature difference not only between the two of them but between them and herself.  Their skin felt cool but brought heat to her.

“And you are always warm,” Wicked answered, smiling before kissing her softly.

When Wicked leaned back again, Taibhsear turned her head toward Truth, who obliged her with a tender kiss of his own.

“I would give much to have a moment like this last for all eternity,” Taibhsear murmured, fighting the tears that threatened at the knowledge that she would loose them so soon.

“As would we,” Truth agreed, kissing her hair and neck.

Wicked kissed her instead of answering.  He too knew they would be parted long before they wished.  It would not be safe to return to her unless they were sent to the Isles once again.

Taibhsear moved eagerly against him, glorying in the feel of their hands on her body, Wicked’s tongue tangling with her own, and Truth’s lips on her back and shoulders.  She lost herself in sensation, her shields slowly slipping away in the face of such pleasure.

When Wicked reach between her legs to prepare her, he found her already wet, open, and ready.  The small mewing sound she made in response to his touch was echoed by a shiver of magic across the skin of the brothers.  Their eyes met over her head and in that moment they agreed that surrendering to her power would not harm them.

Taibhsear’s magic boiled out from her and a gasp left her throat as Wicked slid inside her.  As she moved with him, her soft moans echoed occasionally by his deeper ones, she could feel her magic weaving around them all, holding Truth as close to her as Wicked.  The pleasure continued to build within her, and she could sense something else building as well, something just beyond her reach and sight.

Wicked pressed deep and shuddered in her arms, his seed filling her.  As soon as his arms would obey him he slid down her body, smiling at the small sound of displeasure she made when he slid from her warm depth.

Kissing her softly, Wicked ate the little moans that fell from her lips as Truth shifted behind her and slid into the slick heat Wicked had just left.  After only a few gentle thrusts Taibhsear was gasping and clinging to Wicked as pleasure coursed through her in waves as Truth moved within her.

Stroking her trembling arms, Wicked kissed her tenderly as her nerves slowly settled.  Taibhsear had only just caught her breath again when the feeling of pressure began to be overwhelming again and she began to tremble anew.

“Do not fight it,” Wicked advised, kissing her neck tenderly just below the ear.  “Just enjoy.”

Taibhsear nodded, relaxing into Wicked’s hands and Truth’s body moving behind her.  Truth could feel the change in her body and deepened and quickened his thrusts.  Once, twice, and he spilled her into another quivering moment of ecstasy before a third thrust allowed him to join her.

They trembled together for a moment in the wake of all that pleasure and Wicked held them both, murmuring soft words of endearment in a language Taibhsear had never known.  She drifted for a moment in the haze of pleasure and magic and warm arms holding her close before slipping into a deep and dreamless sleep knowing the brothers would still hold her when she woke.


	8. Tending Wounds

**Chapter Eight: Tending Wounds**

Síleas watched Taibhsear closely each day, and each morning found her happier than the last.  After eight nights spent mostly away from their home she was almost glowing with joy and magic.  It was a sight that made Síleas want to weep, part for joy and part for sorrow.

Taibhsear hummed as they walked from their home to bring tribute to the chief.  Tavish was out hunting with the men and Síne had run ahead to play with the other children.

“Mama!  Aunt Grizel!” Síne yelled, running back to them as fast as her legs would carry her.

Both women broke into a run at the sound of worry in the girl’s voice.  As soon as they met her, still a hard run from the village, Síne took the basket from Taibhsear.

“Go,” she panted.  “A boar.  Some men are hurt,” she managed to pant out.

Taibhsear was gone before Síleas could fully grasp what her daughter had said.

“Papa’s fine,” Síne managed to gasp out, sitting down to better catch her breath.

Taibhsear was still running when she reached the village, not even winded as she paused at the edge of the group of wounded men, her magic moving among them far more quickly than she could herself.  The chief’s younger son was the most grievously injured so she went to him, her hands moving over the wounds in what appeared to be an examination, but was actually the touch she needed to work magic on another.

Before they left the village so many winters ago, the High Priestess had taught Taibhsear much of what she knew of healing.  She put that knowledge to good use now, knitting wounds too deep to be healed by herbs and care alone.  When she was certain he would survive his wounds, and no one would notice the change in them, she moved to the next man.

Over the course of the afternoon she laid her hands and magic on all of the seven injured men, doing what she could to aid their healing without letting anyone in the village sense or see what she had done.  Living secretly among the tribes of the five kingdoms was their only chance to survive the Time of Fire and she would not give herself or her family away.

The sky was growing dark and still the women worked among the wounded men.  Taibhsear wiped her bloody hands on a rag she’d been given as she stepped away from the men, calling softly to Síne.

“Aunt Grizel?” the child asked softly.

“You said you did not fear the two men who visited the village looking for me,” Taibhsear whispered, crouching down so she was almost of a height with the girl.

“I did at first, because the villagers feared them and they made my skin prickle with cold, but you didn’t, so I don’t need to.”

Taibhsear smiled, glad that the child had initially feared them.  It meant that she did not need to worry about the child encountering others of their kind without fear.

“Take this cloth with you to the clearing in the woods past our home,” Taibhsear requested.  “By the time you walk there, the two men should be there.  Tell them what has happened in the village and give this to them. Ask them to come again tomorrow so I may speak with them.”

“They have been visiting you at night?” Síne asked, having noticed her absence in the night.

“Yes, and they will continue to visit me, but the villagers must not know of such things.”

“I understand,” Síne said, nodding and standing up straight and tall.  “I will be your messenger,” she said with pride in her voice.

“Then I lay a mark of my favor on your brow to protect you,” Taibhsear answered, kissing the beloved child on the forehead and leaving a trace of her magic behind.

She sent the girl off with her message and sighed softly before returning to tending the wounded.  Some were still in great pain and needed bandaging.  The boar had been larger than is usual, and frightened so badly it had gone mad with fear.  It continued to charge at the men from the village even after they sliced its belly open and its entrails spilled to the ground in its wake.  Taibhsear shook her head to rid herself of the glimpses of vision gained by touching the men.

She was working by the light of the fire to finish the bandages on the chief’s youngest son when the chief came to her.

“They tell me you have worked tirelessly since you arrived,” he says, watching her.

“I have done no more or less than any other woman of the village,” she answered.  No one had ceased to work since the men returned carrying their wounded.

“You truly see yourself as one of us,” the Chief commented, kneeling down on the other side of his son from Taibhsear.

“She is one of us,” his son whispered, the pain obvious in his voice.

“That she is, my lad,” the chief responded, clasping his son’s shoulder.  Normally he would clasp the upper arm of a kinsman, but the arm was covered in blood soaked clothe that held his wounds closed.

“You are still young, Grizel,” the chief continued, his eyes moving back to her.  “Why do you not take a husband of your own among us?”

“I cannot,” Taibhsear replied, glad that Síleas had already instructed her on how to protect herself from the rumors that would be heard.

“How can that be so?” the chief asked, his brow furrowing in his confusion.

“I am already pledged,” Taibhsear answered.  It was the truth.  She was pledged to the Goddess, to the God, and to her people.  In the face of that vow she could belong to no man.  She had also pledged her heart to the brothers and no other could ever share it with them save the daughter they would create.

“You have never spoken of it,” the chief protested.

“He follows his lord,” Taibhsear replied, which was true enough in a way.  “His elder brother has heirs enough that we need not worry for the health of the clan.”

“So you have yet to bear him children,” the chief replied, correctly interpreting her statement.

“Even so, he will not put me aside,” she answered.  It was not uncommon among the tribes for a wife to be put aside in favor of another if no children were granted to a husband after ten years.

“Yet you do not stay with him, or with his brother’s wife.”  The chief, like so many, would have expected her to remain with her husband’s people.

“They are part of his lord’s household, and I am not.  I traveled here with my cousin, and when they are able, my husband and his brother come to visit me.”

“The two warriors,” the chief’s son murmured, gazing at her in wonder.

“Why did you not tell us then?” the chief asked.

“You were suspicious then, and I did not think you would believe me,” she answered.  Taibhsear knew she would be forgiven for her small deception.  It was a thing done out of necessity to protect herself and her daughter.

“You are right, we would have questioned you that night,” the chief admitted.  “When next they come, let us greet them as family.”

“No, please,” Taibhsear begged.  It would let the brothers know something was different.  “They cannot be one of us, for they owe their allegiance to their lord.  Please, just allow them to walk peacefully among us and come to my home.”

“As you like,” the chief said, shaking his head.  “We will honor you in this, for you are one of us, and we honor our own.”

Taibhsear bowed her head in thanks, recognizing the ritual within the words even if the chief did not.  There were many remnants of her people among the tribes.  It was at moments like this that she thanked the Goddess and God for leaving some magic with the peoples of the Isles after her people had withdrawn to the village above the wall generations ago.

The chief rose and moved among the men, asking after each and offering a strong hand to them and a comforting touch for their wives and children.  He loved his people, and Taibhsear knew that his line always would and that would include those of her own people among them.

~~

As soon as they landed Wicked and Truth knew something was wrong.  Taibhsear was not waiting for them and there were no circles of her magic to protect the clearing.  Truth put a restraining hand on his brother’s wrist when they heard someone approaching.  Wicked stilled without glancing at his brother but didn’t let go of the hilt of his sword.

Síne walked into the clearing with her head held high.  The air still prickled with energy and the cold edge of it bit along her skin, but she had Aunt Grizel’s mark on her brow, and she could feel the warm comforting magic begin to soothe the cold biting magic the two warriors held.

“Aunt Grizel asked me to give you this,” Síne said, holding out the scrap of cloth coated in dried blood.  “The hunters are injured and she stayed to help tend them.”

Wicked and Truth exchanged a look before Truth stepped forward to take the cloth from the child.  Wicked watched them and when Truth and the girl were both touching the cloth he could see the glow of Taibhsear’s magic on the child.

“Thank you,” Truth said, stepping back.  The scent of blood, both human and animal, came from the cloth as he stepped back to his brother’s side.

“She asks you to return tomorrow so she may speak with you,” Síne answered.  She stood tall and the brothers could both see the quiet pride in her mission.  This one revered their Taibhsear and was glad to serve her.

“We will see her then,” Wicked replied, bowing to the child.

Síne smiled wide at them before scampering off into the woods to disappear.

“A brave child,” Truth observed.

“A worthy companion for our Taibhsear,” Wicked agreed.

Truth nodded, waiting another moment to make sure the girl was indeed gone before locking his eyes with Wicked’s.  Tonight they could finish the last of their work here in the Isles and then tomorrow night they could lie with their beloved witch once more.  They launched skyward on the brief journey to visit the last of the witches from the village above the wall.


	9. Of Love and Magic

**Chapter Nine: Of Love and Magic**

Taibhsear didn’t leave the village until the following night as darkness fell across the world.  She was bone tired but still hurried home, pausing there only long enough to leave the basket of food the chief’s son’s wife gave her and collect a blanket.  She was almost running when she reached the woods.  Her pace slowed to a trot through the trees so she wouldn’t tear her clothing on the low tree limbs.

As she rushed into the clearing, her breath came out in a sigh.  The brothers sat waiting for her, their swords lying on the ground beside them.  She smiled broadly as she walked to them, all the weariness that had accumulated while helping to nurse the men fading away.

Truth and Wicked smiled back, each holding out a hand to her as she joined them.

“You have a very brave little follower,” Wicked told her as she settled between them and kissed each of their hands in turn.

“She is,” Taibhsear agreed with a broad grin.  “And she shall stand beside me and my daughter for as long as she lives.”  That knowledge had always been a comfort to Taibhsear as she watched Síne grow up.

“I am glad you will have her beside you,” Truth said softly, stroking her cheek with his free hand.  He could feel his brother’s sorrow, which echoed his own, at the thought that they would not be able to stay beside their beloved.

Taibhsear’s smile was less broad in response to that.  She too sorrowed for the coming loss but resolutely pushed the sorrow aside.  She would not waste her time with them, and she sensed that it was growing short.

“Do not dwell so,” Taibhsear murmured, sensing the sorrow that ran between the two brothers.  Rising up on her knees she laid a gentle kiss on Truth’s lips and then Wicked’s.

“We shall dwell on you then,” Wicked replied, smiling quite wickedly at her.

Taibhsear returned the look before kissing him deeply, her hands working to remove his clothing even as Truth helped his brother disrobe her.  Soon they lay together on the blanket naked to the stars.  Wicked’s hand on her hip kept her rear pressed close against the front of him as he nibbled delicately on her neck and Truth’s hands caressed her as his lips traveled over her breasts in feather light touches that brought sighs to her lips.

She tangled her fingers in Truth’s hair as she cradled his head against her.  Reaching back, she slid her fingers along Wicked’s throat until she could bury them in his locks as well.  They had such soft hair.  Taibhsear clung to both of them as they caressed her and cried out when the vision took hold of her as well.  She could feel the brother’s moving beside her even in vision, but somehow knew they did not see as she saw in that moment.

~~

_Taibhsear sat in the clearing, watching as the sky darkened overhead._

_“Mama, please, come inside,” her grown daughter pleaded.  Taibhsear smiled to see her beauty, the resemblance to her fathers even stronger than it had been when she was a child._

_“Please, Aunt,” Síne added._

_“I must see the stars tonight,” Taibhsear answered them.  “Come back when I have had a chance to gaze up at the brilliance of them for a time.”_

_“Mama, please,” her daughter said again, the tears obvious in her voice now._

_“Do not cry, my child,” Taibhsear entreated.  “I will always be with you, you know this.”_

_Her daughter sobbed into Síne’s embrace._

_“Now I can be with your papas as well.  I will never have to leave them again.”_

_“Oh, Aunt,” Síne said with tears of her own streaming down her face.  “Go safely, Aunt,” she added softly before drawing the younger woman away into the woods once more._

~~

_Wicked looked about wildly, trying to ascertain where he was even as he still felt Taibhsear in his arms and the blanket beneath them._

_He stood in a stone hallway lit by strange objects that did not flicker with the dance of flames but glowed steadily against the gloom of the underground passage._

_A young woman walked toward him smiling, her black hair was far too short and worn mussed wild around her head.  A long black skirt flowed around her legs and a bright blue blouse barely hung onto her shoulders, running so close to her skin it might have stayed up even had it slipped down the tanned arms._

_“Jenn taught me the ritual,” she said brightly and Wicked realized his brother stood beside him.  “I can show you how happy their life was.”_

_“We thank you,” Truth answered as Wicked continued to stare at the strange woman before them._

_“We’ll want to be somewhere private where we won’t be interrupted.  Jess knows we’re doing this tonight, so she’ll be able to safely bring us out if anything happens that needs your attention tonight.”_

_Truth nodded to the strange woman and they followed her down the hall._

~~

_Distantly Truth could feel his body, and Taibhsear’s, as he watched himself land in the dessert where his brother lay with a petite brunette.  He did not recall such a night, and the clothing he and Wicked wore seemed strange, as did some of the weapons he saw himself discard as he approached them._

_He was startled when he fell upon the woman and took her fiercely.  He could see the hint of sorrow behind his brother’s look as he watched._

_Even more surprising was his emotional reaction after joining with the woman.  He could not hear what words they exchanged until she asked them to not let her become the monster.  He and his brother pledged to kill her before she became as cruel as the Darkness or Belle Morte.  Who was this strange woman that they would promise her such a thing?_

Truth was wrenched from his thoughts when he came back to awareness of his body.  Taibhsear danced between him and his brother, crying out into the night as her pleasure took her and she clenched tightly around them both.  Neither Truth nor Wicked were prepared when their own climax took them and they emptied themselves together into the woman held between them, none of the three recalling how they’d come to this moment of complete joining.

When Taibhsear’s long cry ended she moaned, shivering at the intensity of the pleasure and the strangely comforting pain that accompanied the fullness of both of them inside her.  As intense as it had been she still whimpered, this time in relief instead of disappointment, when the brothers carefully drew back and out of her.

They lay panting together in the starlight for a long moment just clinging to each other.

“Did the Goddess show you a vision?” Taibhsear asked quietly, her own vision still bright behind her eyes.  She could still feel her magic moving and weaving around them.

“A strange vision,” Truth answered.

“Very strange,” Wicked agreed.

“The Goddess showed you what you needed to see,” Taibhsear answered.  “As she did me.”  She was glad that the contentment and pleasure of what they had just done was enough to keep back the tears that threatened.  She had seen her goodbye to Síne and her daughter.  She had seen her last moments on this earth before her spirit joined with those it would always protect.  She would never be truly gone because she would always desire to protect Wicked and Truth.  As long as they lived her spirit would be with them.

“Perhaps one day we will understand the message your Goddess has given us,” Wicked answered her, kissing her hair and nestling her closer against his chest.

“Perhaps,” Truth agreed, sifting closer so that he could press as much of his skin against Taibhsear’s as possible, one arm reaching around to hold his brother as well.  Without Wicked he might have given up this beautiful woman between them.

“You will understand in time,” Taibhsear promised, sighing as her magic settled once more and she could feel the warm weight in her belly.  She smiled, hoping it meant what she thought it did.  Had they given her a child tonight while the three of them were lost to vision?  She hoped so.

Nestling herself more securely between the two brothers, Taibhsear enjoyed her time so close to them.  If she were indeed with child then she feared that soon they would have to leave her.  She wished with all her heart that they could remain in this moment for as long as possible and knew that it would be over far too soon.

~~

Síleas woke to the sounds of Taibhsear moving about in the outer room.  Rising carefully, so as not to rouse her husband or child, Síleas slipped from the bed and padded barefoot into the other room.

“What ails you?” she murmured, watching as Taibhsear paced before the fire.

“I cannot tell,” the younger woman said, her voice high with distress.  “Always with others I could tell.”

“Tell what?” Síleas asked, drawing the Seer into her arms.

“If I am with child,” she whispered against her friend’s neck.

“You can never tell with yourself,” Síleas answered with a laugh.  “Let me tell you,” she added to banish the pain from Taibhsear’s eyes.

Síleas placed a hand on the other woman’s belly and closed her eyes, letting her magic move on its own.  A faint ripple came back to her and Síleas smiled.

“You will be such a wonderful mother,” she told Taibhsear.  “I know you will have a beautiful daughter.”

Taibhsear laughed with pure joy, her face lighting up with it.

“We shall celebrate today,” Síleas promised, hugging the other woman.  “We will celebrate that your daughter will join us ten moons from now.”

“My daughter,” Taibhsear breathed, her hands resting over her belly.

“And tonight, you will ask them to return to the village,” Síleas added, watching her friend closely.

“Yes, I will ask them,” Taibhsear promised.  “You have saved my daughter and me already,” she told her companion.  “The chief asked why I took no husband, and you already had an answer for me.  He will not challenge them when they come tomorrow and will say nothing until they are well away again.”

“We will care for you,” Síleas promised in return.  “No matter what happens, we will care for you, for you are ours and we are yours and together we shall prosper.”

Taibhsear smiled at the familiar prayer.  She had said it herself so many times that it was comforting and familiar now.

“Together we shall prosper,” she echoed, hugging Síleas close and letting the joy breathe through her with nothing to dampen it.

~~

Taibhsear waited until she was cuddled between the two brothers to ask them to come to the village once more.  She did not want the request to tarnish their time together.

“I would ask a small favor of you,” Taibhsear murmured, her cheek resting against Truth’s chest as Wicked absently caressed her back.

“What would you ask of us?” Wicked inquired, his gentle touch never ceasing.

“Come to the village again, just for one night, so that the villagers might remember you.”

Both brothers could feel the sudden tension running through her body, their eyes meeting in silent inquiry.

“You wish them to remember us?” Truth asked, curious about the request.

“I need them to, but please, do not ask anything more,” Taibhsear begged.  She would not doom them by binding them to her in their own minds.  They must return to their Master and fulfill their own destiny.

“We will not have time tomorrow, though we will come to see you briefly, but the next night we could,” Wicked answered for them both.  He too wished to know why she asked this of them but would not press her about it tonight.

Taibhsear sighed in relief, relaxing against Truth once more.  They would come, the villagers would see them.  The chief knew the tale Síleas had given her, and she and her daughter would be safe because of it.  Closing her eyes, she held Truth close, knowing deep in her soul that soon she would be parted from her beloveds.

~~

Wicked and Truth were early the following night and Taibhsear hurried from the trees to greet them, relaxing into the warmth of their embrace as soon as she reached where they stood waiting for her.

“You will come to the village tomorrow?” she asked hopefully.

“We cannot both come, Taibhsear,” Wicked said, the regret heavy in his words.

“Will you not explain why you need us to be seen again?” Truth asked.  If they knew why, it might be easier to choose which of them needed to come.

“I cannot.  It is not time for you to know.  Please, understand.  It will be easier this way. Safer this way.”  Taibhsear clung to them as she spoke.  If the villagers did not see them again and know that she was wedded, at least in the way that mattered, then her daughter would not be safe.  If the brothers knew about the child they would try to stay with her, and then they would not be safe either.

“Does it matter which of us comes?” Wicked asked, stroking her hair tenderly.  Whatever had caused this request distresses their Taibhsear.

“It should be Truth,” she said softly.  “It will be easier to explain.”

“What are you explaining?” Wicked asked, hoping that perhaps in her distress she will share this with them.

“Wicked, I cannot.  Please, do not push this.  It will only hurt us all.  Please,” Taibhsear begged, the scent of her fear mingling in the air between them.

“You have seen that it is better that we not know this?” Truth asked, meeting Wicked’s eyes.  They do not want their beloved frightened.

“Yes.  You will know.  I promise you.  You will know when you are safe and they are safe and it is almost full circle again.”

Wicked sighed.  She spoke truth, as she always did when she told them of some vision she had seen.  “If you have seen it, we will trust you,” he agreed.

“Thank you, my beloveds,” Taibhsear said, the relief obvious in her body as she kissed them each in turn.

“We must go, our Taibhsear,” Truth says heavily.  “I will see you tomorrow night, and Wicked will come to see you the night after.”

“I understand,” Taibhsear said, taking a step back from them.  “You must continue your work or neither you nor my people will be safe.”

“As you say,” Wicked agreed.  They had one last family slaughter to stage for the humans and then they could be done with this abhorrent chore.  Then they could stay with their Taibhsear until their Master called them home.

~~

Taibhsear walked quietly beside Síleas as they made their way to the village.  It was late in the day, but they still had enough time to visit the wounded and bathe their wounds with the herbal medicine they’d spent most of the day brewing.  Síleas had stood beside Taibhsear for each lesson with the High Priestess, and they were both skilled healers now in their own right.

“Grizel, Síleas, well met,” the chief’s eldest son greeted them at the edge of the village.  “My brother has been asking after you, Grizel.”

“I hope he is doing well,” Taibhsear replied, smiling gently.

“We have come with something to aid the healing of our brave hunters,” Síleas said, holding up the basket she carried.

“Then do not let me keep you,” he said graciously, making an almost bow in their direction.

Síleas smiled over at Taibhsear, understanding now why the chief asked about her marrying.  The chief’s sons recognized the power in Taibhsear, or their father did, and it did not surprise Síleas that the chief would want the Seer to become part of his kin.

Síleas spoke quietly with mothers and children as Taibhsear tended to the wounds of the hunters.  She dealt better with the men than Síleas ever did.  It was almost as if she understood them in some way that Síleas could not.  When they came to the chief’s home, Síleas spoke with him and his wife while Taibhsear bathed their son’s wounds with the last of their herbal mixture.  As darkness fell around the village, Síleas helped the chief’s wife light the wicks in the long tray of oil that sat upon their hearth.

Taibhsear was just finishing the bandages when they heard voices raised outside.  Síleas saw the tension run through her friend at the sound.  She had asked the brother’s to come to the village, and it sounded as if tonight was the night agreed upon.

“So soon?” Síleas asked her gently, hoping that the chief would remember her query later.

“They were not sure,” Taibhsear replied, tying off the last cloth strip and rising to her feet.

“Thank you for giving so much to us all,” the chief’s wife said to Taibhsear, smiling gently down at the smaller woman.  “We are glad to have you among us.”

“And I am glad to be among you,” Taibhsear answered almost automatically while Síleas gathered the last of their belongings into the basket and moved toward the door.

“Is Grizel still about?” the chief’s grandson asked as he darkened the doorway in front of them.

“I am here,” Taibhsear answered.

“One of your warriors came back,” the lad said, glancing at his grandfather and uncle.

“Go with them, lad,” the chief ordered.

Síleas took Taibhsear’s arm as they walked behind the lad to the center of the village where the warrior waited.  She glanced at Taibhsear, having assumed the dark haired brother was the elder of the two.  He was speaking softly with some of the men, his hand resting comfortably on the hilt of his sword without appearing the least bit threatening.

He smiled when he saw Taibhsear, and the look she returned to him melted Síleas’s heart.  She had never seen her friend look so truly happy.

“Come, share our fire again,” Síleas said, smiling up at the man that made her friend smile so.

“Gladly,” he answered, inclining his head to her.

They moved toward the edge of the village and Truth offered Taibhsear his arm so that she would walk between him and Síleas as they crossed the darkened ground toward the women’s home.

“Will you come inside tonight?” Síleas asked them when they reached the house.

Taibhsear was startled by her friend’s question.  Had she truly decided to trust Truth enough to invite him inside their home?

“I follow where she walks,” Truth answered, leaving the decision with his beloved witch and her friend.  She had said before that she would not endanger the small family that she lived with.

“Come, speak with Tavish and Síne,” Síleas invited, her eyes meeting Taibhsear’s.  If he was father to the daughter Taibhsear carried then he was no threat to her family.

Truth nodded, and Taibhsear stayed on his arm as Síleas preceded them into the small dwelling.  It was a modest space, just big enough for the small family and his beloved.

“The men are healing well?” Tavish asked as he turned toward them, a frown crossing his face very briefly as he saw Truth with them.

“Yes, all are healing well,” Síleas answered, going to her husband.  “They will go for their usual picnic soon,” she added, her calm tone easily reassuring her husband.  She had stood in the place of the Keeper for many years with Tavish beside her, and he trusted her instincts to protect their family and their Seer.

“Didn’t your brother come, too?” Síne asked from her place at the fire side.

“He was required to be elsewhere tonight,” Truth replied to the brave young girl they had met only nights before.  She still held the quiet pride he had seen then as well as the mark of their beloved, though the magic was fading now.

“We will not keep you,” Síleas said, handing Taibhsear the blanket she took with her each night.  “You must have time for some sleep before morning,” she added in a teasing tone, making the younger woman blush fiercely.

“Do not tease her, dear heart,” Tavish admonished his wife.  He could see as easily as Síleas that this man made their Seer happy, and he was glad for it even if he were far from the ideal partner for her.

“Sleep well,” Taibhsear murmured before Truth led her back out into the night.  Neither said a word until they were alone together in the clearing.  It was the first time she had ever been alone with one of the brothers.  It only took a thought to raise her circles tonight.  She had set them so many nights before that now they came to her with barely any magic at all to call them.

“Why did she invite me into their home?” Truth asked.  “She knows what we are.”  Of this he was certain, but not why she would ask him into her quiet home.

“She was letting me know that she accepts you,” Taibhsear answered, the tears a soft burr in her voice.

“Do not cry,” Truth pleaded, drawing her into his embrace.  “There is no cause for tears.”

“She is showing her faith in me,” Taibhsear whispered against his chest.  “As she has always done.”  She valued her Síleas more than she had realized, and the approval of the other woman was something she held very dear to her heart.

“Shh,” Truth murmured, leaning down to kiss her tenderly.

Taibhsear clung to him, some part of her frantic to be near him while she had the chance because she feared she never would again.  She gave herself over to the touch of his soft lips, the sound of their clothes as they fell to the ground beside them, and the feel of the warm earth and soft grass beneath her as Truth lay her down in the clearing, joining with her in a gentle dance that echoed the rhythms of the world as it moved around them and she lost herself in the magic of his arms and his touch.

When they lay tangled together, the soft wind cooling the sweat on their skin, Taibhsear lowered her head to his chest and listened to the heartbeat that only seemed to be there after they had joined but never before.  Did his heart only beat for her?  She had heard the stories that those of his kind had no heartbeat at all, but knew that he and his brother had a heartbeat to share with her as they lay together quietly under the stars.  She mourned the loss of Wicked beside them and clung more tightly to Truth because of it.

“Sleep, my beloved,” Truth murmured, his breath tickling along her ear before he kissed her hair.  “Sleep, and I will wake you before I must go.”

Taibhsear nodded, her hair sliding along his smooth skin before she closed here eyes, the sound of his beating heart lulling her into a contented sleep.

~~

Truth schooled his face to hide the smile that remained as he flew back to Wicked after his night alone with Taibhsear.  As soon as his feet touched the earth he could see that something was wrong.

“Wicked?” he asked aloud, not liking the frown his brother wore.

Wicked met his brothers eyes and held up the basket they had prepared as a parting gift for Taibhsear.

_“He calls us home already?”_ Truth asked silently.

“We must leave at full dark tomorrow,” Wicked answered.  _“We have just enough time to reach the clearing and leave her this before returning to our host for the day.”_

Truth hung his head, fighting back tears for the first time since their Master found them.

_“We will survive, my brother,”_ Wicked said in comfort, clasping Truth’s shoulder.  _“She has years yet, and we will be able to see her again.”_   While Wicked could not promise this as Taibhsear could, he would not deny his brother the hope of seeing their beloved again.  He feared Truth would never love another as he loved their Taibhsear.

Truth nodded and together they flew back to the clearing, leaving one final gift for their beloved.

~~

_“We go south, to Rome.”_

Taibhsear woke with Truth’s words in her ears.  She remembered the vision from years ago and bolted from her bed, hurriedly pulling her tartan about her and belting it in place.

_“She will understand, brother.”_   Wicked’s words played through her mind like a soft caress and she did not take the time to find her shoes.  It was still dark, so she ran as fast as she could from the house, praying that she could make it before they left her forever.

Her cheeks bled from the whip of branches and her tartan and shift were torn when she reached the clearing and fell to her knees in front of the basket they left her just as dawn brought a fiery orange light to the sky.

Taibhsear sobbed, the tears falling into her lap as she reached for the basket with shaking hands.  Her vision was blurred by tears, but she could still see what the basket contained.  Two beautifully made daggers with bone handles worn smooth with use.  Touching them gently Taibhsear could feel the lingering brush of magic each brother left behind on the blade that belonged to him.  She cried harder, understanding how precious a gift the daggers were since they came from warriors.

Síleas found Taibhsear still crying, her fingertips touching the handle of each dagger as if she touched something fragile.

“Hush,” Síleas soothed, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman.  “You told me it would not be their fault when they left.”

“We didn’t have a chance to say goodbye,” Taibhsear sobbed.

“Because you will never truly say goodbye,” Síleas reminded her.  “You will see them in vision, you will see them in your daughter, and when you leave this world of the flesh, your spirit will live on with the three of them always.”

Taibhsear nodded against Síleas, taking deep breaths to quiet her sobbing.  One hand remained in the basket, touching the handles of the two daggers while the other moved to press against her belly where their child grew inside her.  It was for the protection of her beloveds and her daughter that they must never know of their daughter’s existence until she was gone.  They would have no reason to suspect if they never saw Taibhsear again.

By the time Síleas got Taibhsear to her feet, the Seer was no longer crying but she would not let go of the basket with the daggers.  They would be her weapons until her daughter was old enough to wield them.  She would have Tavish teach her daughter how to defend herself with such fine weapons.  Her daughter would have the protection of her papas, even if they could not know of her until long after she and her daughter were dust in the ground once more.


	10. Epilogue: Their Greatest Gift

**Epilogue: Their Greatest Gift**

Taibhsear sat before the fire with her daughter bundled in her arms.  Síne knelt at her feet, eyes bright with joy and hungry for the responsibilities that would come with tending Taibhsear’s child.  Síne would be her Keeper and Taibhsear knew in her heart and soul that the girl she helped raise would never betray or harm the sweet child Taibhsear held in her arms.

Humming softly at first, Taibhsear soon began to sing as she rocked her beautiful daughter, Eilidh.  The soft blond hair was exactly as she had seen it to be, fine and beautiful like Wicked’s.  The gray eyes that gazed up at Taibhsear as she sang were not yet as intelligent as Truth’s but they were still his eyes only gentle and not yet hiding what lay behind them.

Those beautiful gray eyes fluttered shut as Taibhsear sang, and soon she could lay her daughter in the basket Síne had prepared for the little girl’s first bed.  Almost a year ago, that basket was left for Taibhsear containing two beautiful daggers with bone handles, and now it held the other gift the brothers had given her, the precious daughter they would not know about for many generations.  Taibhsear smiled down at her daughter once more before letting Síne take her into the other room to sleep between their bed and her parents’.

Closing her eyes, Taibhsear could still see Wicked and Truth as she had last seen them together, the two of them holding her close when they had only a few moments to spare in visiting her.  They would come safely to the far away kingdom of towering castles and colored magic lights.  Everything would come full circle and they would learn about the daughter they had never been allowed to meet.  Taibhsear took comfort in that knowledge as she rose and made her way to her bed.  They would find peace in that far away kingdom as she would find it in the clearing watching her daughter grow into a beautiful woman.

**Author's Note:**

> End Note: Taibhsear means “one having second sight, seer” according to a translation from http://www.lexilogos.com/english/gaelic_scottish_dictionary.htm. It is Scottish Gaelic (the “B. Beag” button on the website). I do not speak any form of Gaelic and the pronunciation at the beginning is an approximation based on the book _A Guide to Gaelic Conversation and Pronunciation_ by L. MacBean which I found access to on-line.


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